Wyoming’s Un-Sweet 16: No. 3 Bradlee Van Pelt vs. No. 14 Philip Dubois

LARAMIE -- There's a few things that can land you on a list like this one.

Beating Wyoming with regularity certainly makes you a thorn in the side. Making stupid decisions will also draw the ire of fans. Being an all-round jerk will do it, too.

This is our version of the Un-Sweet 16, pitting the biggest villains in Wyoming Cowboys football history against one another and eventually crowning the worst of the worst. This won't be our opinion, it's yours. You can vote for who will advance to the next round by clicking on the box at the bottom of this page.

Get our free mobile app

We did our best to round up the ultimate enemy of the Cowboy State. We reached out to people in the know, from different decades of UW football. Don't be surprised to see plenty of rivals on this list.

Here's today's matchup:

No. 3 Bradlee Van Pelt vs. No. 14 Philip Dubois

Welcome to the party, Colorado State.

Wyoming's Border War rival, finally makes an appearance on our list, and is there really any other player to wear that uniform that got under your skin more so than Bradlee Van Pelt?

The shaggy hair. The skateboarding. The arrogance.

Van Pelt is a guy you love if he's on your team. If he's not, well, you get the gist.

The two-time Player of the Year in the Mountain West made light work of the Cowboys during the first meeting back in 2001. The Rams rolled to a 42-14 victory inside War Memorial Stadium. UW won just two games that season under then-head coach Vic Koenning.

That was Van Pelt's first-ever collegiate start under center. He completed 11-of-20 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown. He added 85 more yards -- and a score -- on the ground during that rout.

Van Pelt and the Rams were once again victorious the following season en route to a conference championship. CSU outlasted a scrappy -- yet still 1-10 -- Wyoming squad, 44-36.

That night inside Hughes Stadium -- head coach Sonny Lubick's 100th-career win -- Van Pelt threw for 157 yards and a score. He rushed for 64 more yards and another touchdown. But before Lubick could celebrate, he was busy yanking his starting QB for on-the-field antics that had become all-too common.

Driving deep in UW territory and holding a slim 37-30 lead early in the fourth quarter, Van Pelt was whistled for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when he purposely stepped on a Cowboy defender inside the 10-yard line.

MORE UW FOOTBALL NEWS:

* Alex Brown is healthy, motivated heading into crucial 2022 campaign

* UW's Evan Svoboda has a big right arm, the confidence to match

* Pokes Practice Report: Position battles heating up

* Bohl sees 'greatness' in young roster, plans to hang a banner soon

With UW an afterthought on the college football landscape at the time, it's easy to see why Van Pelt and the CSU faithful put all the focus on their in-state rival, Colorado. Van Pelt sparked that even further with his infamous spike into the helmet of a CU defender before entering the end zone earlier that season.

Casey Bramlet and the Cowboys served a reminder to the over-confident QB and that fanbase down south in the final meeting of his career in 2003 -- the Border War was still very much alive. Heavy underdogs, Joe Glenn's squad pulled off a 35-28 stunner in Laramie.

The field goal posts came down with the snow. CSU's winning streak in the series was halted at four.

When it comes to former UW President Philip Dubois, he honestly made this list because of two simple words -- prairie gold.

In 2000, Dubois thought it would be a fine idea for the school to change its traditional brown-and-gold color scheme.

Why?

To boost merchandise sales and raise the university’s profile locally and nationally, so says an AP article from 2007, the same year the administration finally made the switch back.

The university paid a consultant $50,000 to mess up the unique color palette. Not only that, you remember the new logo ideas? The little kid on a pony? The detailed "Steamboat" ripoff? The weird guy on horseback, riding a beige horse with "WYO" under him?

Insert puking emoji.

"Game-Day Gold" made its reappearance on Sept. 1, 2007. That sun-spanked afternoon inside War Memorial Stadium, the Cowboys played as good as they looked, hammering visiting Virginia 23-3 in front of 31,620 fans -- wearing the true colors of the University of Wyoming.

So, who do you dislike more? Vote here:

3. Bradlee Van Pelt vs. 14. Phil Dubois

WINNER:

63% of voters think Bradlee Van Pelt is a bigger villain than Philip Dubois.

Previous matchups:

* No. 1 LaVell Edwards vs. No. 16 Donnel Pumphrey

* No. 2 Kyle Whittingham vs. No. 15 Morgan Bros.

- 10 Of The Most Famous Wyomingites In History